In November 2026, the OECD published Global Insurance Market Trends 2026, a comparison of insurance markets in more than 50 OECD and non-OECD jurisdictions using 2025 data. The report draws on national insurance authorities and covers market size, premiums, claims, investment performance and profitability. It updates preliminary information released in June. Its publication date is current, but its observation period is historical.
Use a market benchmark for the question it can answer
For global benefits teams, the report provides a common starting point when discussing different national insurance environments. A country review can become difficult when local providers use different definitions, periods and measures. An external benchmark helps establish context before the employer examines the experience of its own benefit plans. It does not replace that examination.
The first task is to state what population each measure describes. A national life market can include individual savings and protection alongside employer-related business. Non-life figures can combine lines that have little connection with an employer’s health or accident programme. Aggregates should therefore remain labelled as market context rather than being presented as direct measurements of global employee benefits.
Separate growth from the cost of a particular plan
An increase in market premiums can reflect several influences, including volume, mix and price. An employer needs more granular evidence to interpret a renewal proposal: its insured population, benefit terms, claims, expenses and underwriting assumptions. Using a national growth figure as an automatic explanation for a specific increase would skip that work.
This editor recommends using the OECD material to frame questions for providers, rather than to impose a uniform renewal conclusion. A local insurer could explain whether the employer’s experience differs from the wider market and why. The discussion becomes more useful if both sides can reconcile the measurement period and identify which changes concern the plan itself, the insurer’s portfolio or the broader economy.
Keep investment and insurance results distinct
Insurance-market profitability is also relevant to counterparty discussions, but the source of profit matters. A result supported by investments can raise different questions from an improvement in claims experience or operating efficiency. Benefits leaders should ask for an explanation appropriate to the contract and insurer, without treating a country-level measure as a statement about one carrier’s capital strength.
For boards overseeing insurance or reinsurance programmes, the distinction improves the quality of challenge. A market can look resilient overall while individual organisations have different exposures, asset strategies and service capabilities. The benchmark should help identify where further evidence is needed. It should not create a presumption that every counterparty shares the average result.
Build a dated country evidence pack
A practical application is to add the report to a structured country review containing the employer’s plan information and current provider documents. Each source should carry its observation period, publication date and relevant definition. This prevents a new publication date from disguising a mismatch between historical market data and a current decision.
The pack should also preserve unresolved questions. If a market statistic cannot be matched to the product being purchased, the limitation should remain visible rather than being filled with an assumed allocation. An explicit gap can guide the next provider discussion and improve subsequent comparisons between countries. For a multinational pooling or captive review, that discipline is particularly useful when local inputs are being consolidated.
A useful review should also specify when the country pack will be refreshed and who will reconcile changed definitions, so that comparisons remain meaningful in the next reporting cycle.
The OECD report offers a shared evidence base for the insurance environment in which benefit programmes operate. Its value lies in comparable context and better questions. Employers and boards should combine it with current, contract-specific information, maintaining the boundary between 2025 market outcomes and decisions about future capacity, pricing and service. That produces a more defensible review than relying on either broad averages or isolated renewal narratives alone.
Sources
OECD — Global Insurance Market Trends 2026 | OECD publishes 2026 global insurance market benchmark
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